Island Life October/November 2018

Interview
Motor racing historic Formula Ford (Merlyn)
from Portsmouth to work on the
High Down rocket test site in
the 1950s-60s – Geoff skipped
university and went straight from
school into an apprenticeship with
Plessey Radar, who sponsored
him to study part-time at
Portsmouth Poly and subsequently
promoted him to roles in several
different departments.
At 26, he left the Island for the
adventure of spending two years
working on missile systems in
Florida, and then came back to
work for a number of companies,
including one that did inflight
entertainment systems.
This was to be something of a
fated move, because when that
company decided to pull out
of the industry, Geoff instantly
saw an opening to offer the
design service himself.
Growing the business
“I’m basically a problem-solver”
says Geoff, “so I’d go into airlines,
talk to people, and find out what
the issues were”. This was how he
Geoff at “Welly Road”
Middle School, Newport
came to identify the unreliable
on-board headphone sockets,
which at that time would last for
an average of 5,000 plug-ins,
and he designed an alternative
that would last 20 times
longer – with clear cost-saving
implications for the airlines.
His first contract was to supply ‘a
few hundred’ units to US company
Vid-Air, and to fulfil that order,
he had to call on the help of his
parents and his young son to help
build the units in his garage.
The next contract was for
10,000 units, at which point, in
1998, he realised he had to start
taking on staff – and then the
orders started flowing in. Things
really took off when the product
was ordered for the prestigious
Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and
the rest, as they say, is history.
Last year the company turned
over £13 million and looks set
to grow further, with its in-house
research and development team
constantly working on new
products to help the airlines
move towards on-board wifi
and contactless payment
technology in the skies.
Naturally proud of both his
company and its Island base, Geoff
has been a long-time supporter
of the Isle of Wight Chamber of
Commerce, and IFPL has been a
member company for 20 years.
He became involved with
the Chamber at Board level six
years ago, and is about to step
down after serving a three-year
term of office as President.
He sees the role as one of “an
influencer”, bringing the issues
facing business people to the
attention of local government
and other agencies, and along
with others, has been heavily
involved in drawing up the “Vision
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